-
Let’s Review
Every single day, my e-mail inbox is filled with requests that I review some product that I’ve purchased. Or someone wants my feedback on the service they recently provided me. (The only company I know that doesn’t do this is AT&T, because they already know that they give piss-poor customer service, and they couldn’t care…
-
Where Does Charity Begin?
The other day I was on my way to volunteer to serve lunch at a soup kitchen with some friends. I’ve done this before, and found it to be a gratifying experience. I was really looking forward to doing it again. But while waiting for my friends, a homeless woman came by, looked at me,…
-
Lack vs. Abundance
There is an interesting human spectrum that tells you a great deal about people. I call it the generosity spectrum. But it also has a great deal to do with trust, confidence, kindness, and a sense of karma. At one extreme, you have people who are so wide open that they put themselves at risk.…
-
Generosity Breeds Abundance
It seems rather simple to me. The more you give, the more likely you will be to receive. And even when I don’t receive, I just feel better when I give. One of the things I try to do regularly is send out kudos e-mails here at work. I don’t know why people find it…
-
Saving the Animals of Fukushima
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck off the coast of Japan near Honshu Island. This quake set off a tsunami of 45 foot high waves crashing into the Japanese coast, at the very site of a very badly built and poorly situated nuclear power plant in Fukushima. As you can well imagine, things went…
-
Asking for Help
In mid-July I’m having outpatient surgery on my wrist. It’s fairly routine, but I’ll be home recovering for a week. This has me rattled. It’s my dominant hand, and I have no idea how truly incapacitated I will be. Will I be able to open jars? Medicine bottles? I’ll open them in advance. Will I…
-
Under my Umbrella… ella… ella…
One thing you can’t get away from in Seattle is beggars at stop lights. It breaks my heart because I want to help them, but I can barely help myself. And even if I could afford to help, there are just so many of them, so who do I choose? And which ones would spend…
-
I Really Need Your Help
Believe me, I hate to ask. I’d much rather help others than be helped myself. The fact is, I’m desperate. I’ve been through a lot in the past 5 years. I’ve been swindled out of 3,500.00 (read more about that here), my car has been totaled, I lost my life savings (read more about that…
-
“Crap, I’m an Adult.”
Recently I was talking to my niece, who is in her late twenties, the mother of two boys, and is working on her Bachelor’s degree. I was telling her how nicely I thought she had turned out, and that not that many years ago she really had me worried. I’m so proud of the woman…